There exist many document creation applications that allow users to create electronic documents with illustrations and/or images. When creating such an electronic document, inefficient or inexperienced use of the creation software can lead to problems when outputting, publishing or distributing the document. Some of those problems are not initially evident. For example, an illustration may use many “spot” colors that appear like any other color on the screen, but which require separate inks when printed on a press, consequently resulting in increased cost for unwanted printing plates.
Currently preflight software generally exists as an independent, stand-alone applications that analyze documents only after the documents have been output from the document creation software. This has a number of drawbacks such that the user is not alerted to problems until after he/she has gone through the process of outputting the document, which may be time consuming. If any issues are identified and require correction, the user must return to the creation software, make the necessary changes, and then repeat the output process. If the user could be notified of issues while working in the creation software, time and effort would be saved. Also, because information is generally lost in the process of outputting a document from the creation software, stand-alone preflight software does not have access to the intimate information regarding the problems, thus limiting its effectiveness.
Another mechanism commonly used to alert users of possible problems, either as an alternative or compliment to stand-alone preflight software, are warning windows that appear in the creation application. Such windows appear as secondary dialog boxes that require the user to respond before continuing in the creation application. While such warnings address the problems described above, they have their own drawbacks. First, the information is not presented to the user in any centralized, organized fashion. Secondly, such warnings are often seen by users as disruptive. When possible, users often turn off such warnings to avoid the disruption, but as a result loose the benefit of the warnings.
It is therefore desirable to provide a mechanism which can provide better warnings to users.